Safety first

[This is supposed to be a side story/explanation to the Appointments and Disappointments series]

He brought a friend with him. He wasn't sure what else to do. Not that the friend knew what do do either, but he figured they'd be able to figure out what needed to be done quicker. They didn't want to be caught. This was risky business. Kathmandu was full of spies.

The walls had ears, and mouths. Very judgmental ones at that, those wall-mouths. Friends, relatives, their friends, their friends' relatives, neighbors, their friends, their relatives, so on and on and on. Everyone was a potential threat. There was of course the regular threat of police...Nepal police considered harassing young men and women just going about their daily lives and doing things they did the pinnacle of its achievements. Catching rapists, murderers, robbers: not in the list of their top ten priorities

They were in his bike for fourty five minutes. A remote suburb of a suburb, barely a town. They staked out at the teashop across the street. For two hours they bought cups after cups of milk tea and coca-cola they didn't want to drink, their shifty eyes looking eagerly at the medical store across the street. It was a slow day. Two customers over two hours and one of them spent half and hour talking. Not good, good god. How were the stores surviving with such slow business, the markups must be really high, they figured.

How much money did you bring, the friend said.

I have..., he opened his wallet to check, one, two, five...two thousand five hundred rupees. Do you think this will be enough? he said.

Maybe. I'm sure it will be enough. Not sure how many you want to buy, I have some money too, I can contribute for you, if you promise to tell me about it later, the friend said.

Yeah shut up, not happening bro, he said, snatching away the thousand-rupee note the friend had taken out from his wallet.

After another unfruitful hour of spycraft, the boys paid their bill and got themselves together. The shop had a change of shift, from an elderly woman to a man who couldn't have been a few years older than themselves. He would understand, they knew. They walked confidently to the shop, ready to take over the world.

At the same moment, they abruptly turned around, and huffed back to their bikes.

What happened bro, you chickened out? I thought you were a man, and you were gonna do it, he asked.

Oh I was, but I remembered you had the money, and besides you don't want me there. It's you who wants the goods. I didn't want to crowd out the store there. Besides, two dudes showing up at the pharmacy, asking for...that... Not that I'm saying it's anything bad, but you know, wouldn't want to give the impression, the friend said.

Saale, I brought you because you said you were good at this! You're supposed to help me man, how do I get this done by myself, I don't know what to do. Do you know anyone who's done this before, he said.

Wait, how do I know. I just gave you a thousand bucks to subsidize your sex-having, and you're blaming me muji, I'm not the one who's fucking why should I care. Yeah, I had a dai and he got it, I can call him to ask what to do. Our boys obviously have bought many times, but those women sell those themselves. You want me to ask if they have spares? the friend said.

No no no, leave it man, leave it! We'll look like idiots if we ask anyone else. It's not a big deal, we aren't experienced in things like this. First time's always nervous you know because we don't want to get caught. We'll... we'll figure something out. Let's explore this village first, nice town, he said.

The boys strolled around the town. They walked up the temple with a thousand, down the forest of deers, across the street from a new five-star resort that was under construction. They bought a couple of trinkets. They met an old friend who was there to smoke pot among the trees, away from the cops, and ended up buying a sizeable amount of what he claimed was locally-grown high-quality stuff from him.

The shadows were getting longer, the air colder, more fragrant with spices and wood-fires. School buses that had dropped of the schoolkids were returning back to the town empty. It would soon get dark, and the shops would close. He didn't have much time. He had promised her that he would take care of this a week ago and now there were zero days left. He didn't want to let this go. This was a gift horse and doing otherwise would be farting in its mouth and kicking it hard. They had had a good time about down chillaxing around, but the fact was he hadn't done what he had promised to do, and he had a hot girl with him and didn't want to disappoint her and scare her away. She would find a dozen guys for a guy like him. This was it.

He swallowed his pride and self respect, ready like a soldier fighting a battle for his life, and climbed the steps of the medical store. He held his wife. Can you give me a box of panther condoms please, he said.

They had ended up spending all the money, he had just enough money for six condoms. That was after the shopkeeper had convinced him to buy two thousand dollars worth of herbal supplements to helm him, of course, but she didn't need to know about those. She would be rolling about the waves of pleasure in moantown, he thought to himself. He made a mental note to play Motown songs while they did it.

It had been a successful trip.